hands of a patriot who ran it back for another touchdown. it was ugly. gregg: i've seen better pop warner teams. mark sanchez better start checking the want ads and rex you too. bye-bye. jon: fox news alert. more trouble in the middle east. this is in cairo, egypt. you can see the teargas wafting through the streets as protestors take to tahrir square and other places to protest against that country's new president, mohammed morsi. he has just assigned himself sweeping new powers. this comes after he helped broker that peace between -- that cease-fire between hamas and israel. perhaps thinking that he is suddenly a leader on the world stage he decided to announce that all of the decisions he has made since assuming office in january cannot be challenged by

the egyptian courts. as you can see a number of especially young people in egypt none too pleased about this. they have been protesting in cairo and alexandria and other places. morsi of course an islamist, a member of the muslim brotherhood, the ideological ally of hamas. it is yet to be seen what the response will be from the obama administration to these new powers that he has awarded himself. he has also ordered a new trial for his predecessor hosni mubarak. we will continue to watch the troubles developing inee lit up and the protest both in favor of and against that country's president. we'll keep an eye on it "happening now." also this fox news alert, holiday shoppers nationwide out in droves to take advantage of black friday tkaoerblgs man

black friday deals, many of them cutting thanksgiving short to get in lines. they are offering deep discounts on popular items today. it's not all fun and games, thousands of walmart workers are off off the job. and stores are trying to recoup some of their losses from storm sandy. those stories coming up in hour. first, brand-new stories and breaking news. >> the hamas terror group now accusing israel of breaking the cease-fire rules two days after a truce was reached along the israel-gaza border. they are investigating reports of a palestinian man getting killed today. >> a massive chickenpox outbreak in indiana. health officials say it is the largest known outbreak of this kind in u.s. history. details. >> iowa police on the hunt after a man walks into a bank, hands the teller a note then walks out with an undisclosed amount of money.

it's all "happening now." >> hello, everyone, i'm arthel neville in for jenna lee. jon: i'm jon scott. a fragile cease-fire under test. israeli troops shoot dead a palestinian man. they wounded 19 other people, and crowds surged towards gaza's border fence with israel. it's the first significant violence since the truce between israel and gaza's hamas rulers took hold. >> israel's brinkmanship with hamas fueling speculation that israel is using the conflict as a test run for an attack on iran and a way to locate locations.

bing ram is author of into the fire 0, the most extraordinary battle in the afghan war. good to see you. if this is not at all about gaza but indeed about iran and this is a test to see what sort of nuclear and arms iran has, and if it is a test, what have we learned? >> to the extent that it is a test of missiles and whether you can shoot them down the advantage goes to israel. they've shown they have an antimissile system. on the political grounds, clearly prime minister morsi of egypt has come out as being the most powerful local figure in the arab middle east. the third thing that is really puzzling, about three weeks ago the united states held an exercise with israel where we had american troops on the ground at our antimissile batteries inside israel. so that leaves open the question

whether president obama is thinking that we'd have americans in israel involved if there were a war between israel and iran. >> let's break this down. you said a lot of key things there of course. let's go back to morsi and the fact that you're saying that because he brokered this cease-fire deal here, however tenuous might be, but if he brokered this we are talking about that he is now powerful. you see his own people now, a small group at the moment protesting this grand sweeping boyar that he has anointed himself with. i want to know too in terms of testing, political testing which i think is a key word there, what do you think is the test on the part of president obama, as well as prime minister benjamin netanyahu in terms of testing morsi and muslim brotherhood in terms of how they proceed from here? >> there is not much benjamin netanyahu can do. president obama is really stuck now. that is he wants the court,

morsi, but now that morsi is acting extra illegally he's almost forcing president obama to have to rebuke him publicly. and the question is whether president obama will do so. >> why wouldn't the president do that ? >> well because if he says you're to do something different and morsi says, hu, then the president looks week. >> the president is working in lock step with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. what can they do together as a combined force? i think also this last incursion here was a way to sort of show the power, show the middle east that in fact america is still lock step with israel and that there is power in the two of them working in concert. >> oh, i don't know about the word lock step when you talk about president obama and benjamin netanyahu. i think the first thing they

could do if they are in lock step is stop yelling at each other. >> they have to put forth a united front at the very least. we understand, i fully am aware of how tenuous that relationship is, but they were able to come together on some sort of agreement, however layered it is we are not sure at this point, that remains to be seen, but in terms of posing a force in front of morsi, they've got to be in concert together, do you agree? >> well, i thought it was interesting that morsi had actually manufactured the cease-fire before secretary of state clinton arrived, but out of just deference to the united states both morsi and benjamin netanyahu waited until secretary of state clinton was there until they announced it, which really meant we didn't have as much power as we have in the past.

>> we as americans. >> yeah. >> there is so much i want to talk to you, i'm running short on time. why to you think they waited until secretary of state clinton arrived and not have the president, president obama be the one to sort of forge that cease-fire with morsi alone? >> wow, because first both countries take money from us, so the golden rule -- we have a little bit of power over each of them so they don't want to be rude to us. on the other hand they don't want to be saying, we can dictate to them. >> right. >> the most interesting thing that i saw out of this entire little brouhaha was number one, the antimissiles worked, and number two, it seemed like we were getting the signal that if it gets really serious our american soldiers would be on the ground with antimissile systems in israel, and that would really be something

dramatically new. >> and you can't really trust the players involved here. i ask you a final question, mr. west, what could we expect that other shoe to drop in. >> well, only it seems to me -- that's an interesting question. let's look at it this way, benjamin netanyahu is going to run for re-election in january. if he receives a solid majority, then he's going to be in a position to say to iran, if you continue i'm going to strike you some time say in march. just before he does that he's liable to ask, can we have american ships and maybe even american batteries ashore that can shoot down missiles? so we're talking about something about next march. >> that's what i'm understanding, that spring of 2013 will be an interesting time. we will keep our eyes on that time period as well as every step along the way. mr. bing west thank you very much for your analysis.

>> thank you. jon: republican senators now pressing both the justice department and the f.b.i. for answers about their involvement in the investigation into general david petraeus affair with his biographer, the former cia chief resigned from his post two weeks ago as a result. catherine herridge live in washington with more of the details for us. >> thank you, good morning. in this two page letter the ranking republican on the senate judiciary meeting is demanding a meeting no later than next wednesday into the investigation into david petraeus. given the numerous press reports on this matter including information alleged to be provided by government sources i request a detailed briefing to discuss this matter and provide concrete facts surrounding his resignation and the department apartments involve the. the letter from grassley breaks down the request into ten gat tore reese.

whether the affair with his biographer was detected or missed by the fbi in their background check for the cia job as well as any illegal thoerts that showed the f.b.i. and other departments were not required to notify the president. >> it looks like koeupbgs interested in a pretty wide ranging investigation. senator grassley's question cover a very wide scope from the beginning of the investigation, throughout it up until its conclusion. it seems to me they want to get to the who, what what, when, where and why as to why congress was not notified. >> on the most recent statements the attorney general said it was his call not to make the notifications. >> we made the determination as we were going through the matter that there was not a threat to national security. had we made the determination that a threat to national security existed we would of course have made that known to

the president and also to the appropriate members on the hill. >> one analyst told fox that this investigation by the senator appears to be one where he is setting the same framework he did with the fast and furious investigation into the justice department, jon. jon: catherine herridge live for us in washington. interesting developments there. thank you. >> it was one of the most devastating images from super storm sandy, the jersey shore's famous roller coaster literally dropped into the atlant atlantic ocean. why it might stay that way. shoppers are trying to find stores. rick leventhal has that part of the story for us. >> this toys r us was flooded during the storm. they just reopened under a tent. we'll tell you how black friday

is going, coming up. oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double. but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late.

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jon: just in the official wh chs way to 1600 pennsylvania avenue as of a new moments ago. first lady michelle obama, along with sasha, malia and first dog beau were presented with this year's tree. it's a tree from north carolina. if you've ever had the chance to be at the white house at christmastime it is one of the magnificent decorations inside that house. arthel: it's beginning to look a lot like christmas. i love it. black friday shoppers dealing with more than just long lines and big crowds today, they are facing picketing workers at many walmart stores. their unions are flexing muscles and one of the bussist shopping days of the years. james rosen is live at a walmart in land over hills, maryland, how many picketers are out there? >> at this point it's all done, but it was quite a different

scene earlier arthel. we are awaiting some word from walmart stores inc, the national chain as to how many members of its u.s. workforce of 1.4 million employees walked off the job today. early indications are that it is a very small fraction. here in suburban maryland in answer to your question roughly 400 protestors were carried here on five chartered buses, organized by the united food and commercial union. they marched half a mile around the complex chanting no justice, no peace. and carrying signs like slave at walmart. the protestors told us that between 14 and 30 workers from this particular walmart joined them on the picket line, however store manages here they tallied zero defections from the roughly 400 workers who are employed here. walmart store managers told us they brought in special security for this event. we asked them how much. they said enough.

we asked, where are they? they said everywhere. four or five of the store managers led by one bobby williams came face-to-face with the protestors, their bull horns, passion and leader, edward l. jones of living faith baptist church in washington d.c. >> we understand there were meetings held with workers discouraging them and in a sense threatening them not to participate in this black friday activity, and we are here to stand with the workers to say that we don't want retaliation, nor do we want these workers fired. >> all i can say to that, it's entirely inaccurate. walmart stands behind hits associates. we have respect for individuals and our associates definitely know that their voices are already heard and respected by the management team. >> reporter: as you can see both sides largely kept their cool, things unfolded without

violence. also it should be noted without any dissoonerrable disruption to commerce here. the parking lot is filling up. we were expecting a ruling from the national relations board which would hand down an opinion as to whether it would be legal to organize the pickets around the country on black friday. the ruling never came and today they tell us they are not going to have that ruling this week. arthel: james rosen at the wall smart. they came and went, took care of business and things are status quo for the moment. thank you, james. jon: but business isn't up and running yet for a lot of stores on the east coast still struggling to recover from super storm sandy. those that have managed to reopen are hoping to recoup some of their losses on this black friday. rick leventhal live in brooklyn, new york for us right now. how is business at the tent there, rick? >> reporter: slow, jon. they are not doing as well as i think they'd hoped.

at least they are open at this tore us rust. they set up this tent in a park lot because the store which is behind it was full of water on the first floor when the hurricane hit. they said the water was bursting through the floor like explosions, got everything wet in there, all the toys you see the babies r us also closed, the kohl's next door closed. these stores would likely be doing big business on this day. a lot of folks in the neighborhood may have left post storm or may not realize that this is now open. we went inside, there are people in there doing their black friday shopping. there are sales and people are trying to take advantage of it. the store normally would hold about 1200, 1100 people, this tent only holds a fraction of that, about 200 at a time. they tell us there was a line here last night but no lines here today, jon. jon: what are the shoppers saying about all this? >> well, you know, some of them are coming here for staples like tkaoeurps, whic diapers which are actually on sale here today. they don't have a lot of options

where to shop after the storm. other people couldn't find what they were looking for because they don't have everything that they would normally have inside the toys ar toys r us. here is what a couple of people told us. >> here it was empty. i'm on my way to home depot and i saw that the sign said now open, so i ran in. they didn't have what i needed. >> they have a big sale on diapers here and that's why we came. >> no lines to wait in. >> no, no lines. >> relatively easy experience at this toys r us. i've got to tell you there is a best buy across the street, there is a line there, that store was not affected by the storm, so some people experiencing typical black friday here in brooklyn, others pleasantly surprised, jon. jon: the after effects continue. thanks. arthel: a chickenpox outbreak baffling one health state department to look at how many children could be affected and what officials are doing to stop

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arthel: right now new information on crime stories we are keeping an eye on. first to ohio where federal prosecutors say a man does not deserve a new trial or an acquittal. he was convicted of federal hate crimes for orchestrating beard cutting attacks on fellow amish that he considered guilty of her ras see. they are looking for a man who robbed a wells fargo bank in cedar rapids this wednesday. he walked up to the window and left with an undisclosed amount of money. finally oscar-winning actress halle berry has a fight brick out at her house between her ex-boyfriend and new fiance.

they are fighting for custody of her four-year-old daughter. her exwas arrested and is being investigated for battery. jon: let's talk about vigo county, indiana, it is experiencing the largest chickenpox outbreak if the country. the area usually has less than ten cases this year. they've seen more than 80 since september. the state health department is now baffled as it investigates the cause for this sudden spike. a couple of hundred kids were sent home from school as a precaution. dr. kathleen london is a board certified family immediate bin physician, you know, i'm old enough to have had chickenpox. i never thought it was a big deal. these days there is a vaccine available and children are generally expected to get it right. >> you're right. i had chickenpox, even my kids had chickenpox. we would have about ten thousand people a year that would end up hospitalized and a hundred, 150

deaths. as we were getting rid of other childhood diseases that became the one that was one of the higher death rates. and it's a very, very, very contagious illness. droplets and everything else and the population that gets it. we are looking at preschool kids. they are all over each other. we do recommend two vaccines that is being fully immunizedded for it. the concern here is that some of the children have already been immunizedded. the other thing that will happen is children immunizedded will get a milder form of the disease. maybe something that is going on here is doctors don't recognize that it is chickenpox because it doesn't look the same. it will look like bug bites. we didn't always track chickenpox because we used to see 3 to 4 million cases a her so this is different. jon: there are a lot of parents out there who are concerned about the number of immunizations that they give their children and some might look at a chickenpox inoculation and say, no not going to do that

for my kid, what do you say to them. >> given the 100 to 150 deaths we used to see every year in otherwise healthy children are you willing to take that risk with your child. jon: and the vaccine is very effective. >> absolutely. jon: there are aftermath issues, shingles is related to chickenpox. >> correct. the chickenpox virus is in the herpes family of viruses: lives on your never root endings forever. and singles is part of that. jon: it hits older people. >> we have a vaccine against shipping he else. if we prevent chickenpox to begin with you won't be at risk for shingles either. shingles can leave you with permanent pain and other things that are just not something that you will want to have to deal with every day if you don't need to. jon: again i know a lot of parents have generally thought of chickenpox not a big deal. one kid in the neighborhood would get it and everybody would

have chickenpox parties so everybody could be exposed and come down with it,. >> and be done with that. absolutely, i get that. that was before the vaccine. now we have a vaccine to prevent it. it's two weeks and actually kids who have been exposed who were not adequately immunizedded, didn't get both jacques he's even need to be home for 21 days. that is time out of work and everything else. how are you going to do that? >> indiana we feel for. if you haven't had your kids immunizedded. the doctor says get it done. >> please. jon: thanks. arthel: didn't know a lot of that stuff. a top republican lawmaker possibly breaking ranks with a powerful conservative reports. why he seems to be ditching an old pledge he made to antitax activist grow srer nor guess and what it means to the budget. a holiday tragedy off o a popular beach, what may have led to a pleasure boat capsizing.

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arthel: welcome back. a string of companies weighing in on the budget battle underway in washington, but with lawmakers haven't heard from a very important sector of the u.s. economy. well, now in a very rare move several major corporations are wading publicly into the fight over the looming so-called fiscal cliff, and they're not holding back. elizabeth macdonald is with the fox business network. okay, liz, so who are these

corporations, and what exactly are they saying? >> good to be with you, arthel. it's walmart, cvs and wall greens. walmart or is basically saying, look, customers don't need the uncertainty over tax increases, and let's get to cvs caremark because these two drug store chains are basically making rare public policy statements that we've never seen before from these companies. they're urging washington to avoid the fiscal cliff. cvs caremark is essentially saying, look, our customers are hard working american families, they make decisions on the budget. they've been faced with, basically, persistent high unemployment, fragile economic growth, and they want to know that d.c. is working on their behalf. so and that was also the same sentiment that you heard out of walgreens. walgreens also saying, basically, the health of the u.s. economy, the recovery and

american families depends on a consensus agreement in washington, d.c. to avoid the fiscal cliff, and walgreens went on to say that we need fiscal clarity as a business in order to invest in the u.s. economy to create jobs and economic prosperity. so three companies stepping forward now joining other ceos urging a bipartisan consensus on the fiscal cliff deal. we haven't heard from cvs caremark and wall green's. we've heard from walmart, but not these two in the past. arthel: well, and they're both saying this is about our customers, not necessarily about us as a company. are you surprised, though, because sometimes when some of these corporations get in on what could appear to be a political fight and taking sides even though they're asking for bipartisanship, do you think there could be any backlash? >> yeah, that's an important question, will there be backlash against these companies? i don't think so because basically what these three companies represent are,

basically, retail traffic throughout the country ends up through these stores. so they're essentially saying you're going to hurt consumers, your going to hurt them in the wallet, you're going to hurt our revenues if you don't get a fiscal deal done soon. and also the companies are urging not just tax reform, but entitlement reform. very interesting for two drugstore chains to be talking about that, essentially because they provide a lot of the health care needs in the way of pharmacy benefits at pharmacies and drugs to the american people. so interesting development here, arthel. we're going to be tracking this one throughout the day. arthel: i know you will. thanks, liz. >> sure. jon: well, a test for a no new taxes pledge as congress tries to grapple with the looming fiscal cliff. this is republican senator saxby chambliss of georgia. he is saying he might not honor the anti-tax pledge he once made to conservative activist grover norquist. , the head of americans for tax reform. even if it means he gets a

primary challenge in 2014. chambliss saying he cares more about the country than about a 20-year-old pledge. the majority of republicans in congress have signed the pledge. so what does it mean for the upcoming battle over the fiscal cliff? let's get it into with monica crowley, julie roginsky, both are fox news contribute us. so, monica, if there is a crack in republican opposition -- i'm sorry, i actually wanted to address this to julie. i'm looking at julie and saying your name. i'm sorry. >> that's okay. >> we look a lot alike. jon: i know you do, yeah. if there's a crack in republican opposition to new taxes, that's welcome to you as a good democrat? >> well, actually, i want to commend saxby channel writes. it's about time that somebody puts the country before washington, d.c. lobbyists like grover norquist has had the republican party enthralled for the past 20 years. john boehner, tom coburn, even former president george bush, the first president bush, have basically said who's grover

norquist? and they're right. jon: democrats, monica, have said president obama campaigned on this idea of raising taxes for couples making over $250,000 a year, and he won. therefore, that's what the country wants. >> well, look, this is not about grover norquist. this is about the path that the republicans should be taking. look, there are two key, core, sacred principles at stake here at play for the republicans. one is not to raise taxes and the other is cutting spending. if senator chambliss wants to go down the road with the democrats, he's welcome to it, but there will be a price to pay, especially in the very conservative state of georgia. he will likely be primaried and likely lose -- jon: you think he gives up his seat if he goes for this? >> probably, because he is in a conservative state. but remember, the problem here is not a revenue problem. the democrats have dominated the narrative in talking about tax rates and how we're going to raise revenue, but the more important part of this calculation is spending.

you don't -- if you get spending under control whether it's through entitlement reform, whether it's through cutting discretionary spending, you will bring this thing into line. now, you also have to do tax reform to get economic growth going so you get more revenue coming in naturally to the treasury, but the question is always -- it's about the spending, stupid. it's not about taxes. jon: nobody wants to reform entitlements, or so it would seem. nobody wants their medicare or social security benefits cut, and those are the huge drivers of national debt. >> don't forget that barack obama during the so-called grand bargain talks of a year and a half ago put entitlement spending, entitlement cuts on the map. he basically said, look, democrats will talk about raising the age for medicare, for example, social security, you know, all these issues. the problem is, you know, as monica just pointed out, when you have a senator like saxby chambliss not necessarily saying i'm going to raise taxes, but saying i'm not going to be held enthralled to grover norquist or some pledge i signed, i'm going

to at least consider it. then you hear from the primary, oh, no, you're getting a primary, you're out of there. how do you compromise from somebody who raises his head and says i'm not going to necessarily do it, i'm just going to talk about it, and all of a sudden you're outta here? >> because, look, both parties have to stand for something. if you flush down the toilet your core principle about not raising taxes on the american people especially on job creators and small businesses who would really bear the brunt, if you flush that down the loo, then you have nothing, you stand for nothing. again, senator chambliss is welcome to this if he wants to go out on a limb here, but the republican party has to stand for something. and it's not just on the growth side, jon. you've got to get to spending which is the core issue here. you can raise taxes all day long, it's not going to begin to put a dent in the deficit or the national debt. the government is a ravenous beast. jon: that is the point, that monica makes. even if you take the tax rates

back for the richest americans to where president obama says today really should be, you're really not going to take care of the national debt in a significant way. >> no, you're not. but, you know, these republicans that talk about this today, most of them voted in the senate and the house for the medicare prescription drug plan under or george bush. that exploded the deficit tremendously. both of them voted for two wars, even if you think they were necessary, with no offsetting revenue to fund those wars. when you have spending like that that these republicans backed ten years ago, never had a problem with, and all of a sudden now they're saying we've got principles, you know, where were these principles ten years ago? >> first of all, fiscal conservatives like me were screaming at president bush and others who went down -- >> but where was the primary for those people? >> but remember, remember, the deficit that president bush left barack obama with was something like $450 billion which was bad enough. obama and the democrats have nearly quadrupled that every single year since -- >> but -- >> so there's no comparison to be made. big spending is big spending.

what you have now is big spending on steroids. >> but if you've got principles as you just talked about, monica, it's not the numbers, it's the principle. where was the principle of primary in these people that did -- >> by the way, i'll tell you where it was, julie, it's called the tea party. if the republicans had stuck to their guns with limited government, fiscal responsibility all these years, there would have been no need for a tea party. >> saxby chambliss was there ten years ago, nobody primaried him back then. here's the problem. when you're out of power, you can talk about principles. when you're in power, republicans tend to forget about those principles. >> well, the laws of economics are going to kick in pretty soon, and we will all have no choice. jon: monica, julie, thank you both. arthel? arthel: did monica really say down the loo? loved it. [laughter] jon: she did! >> potty mouth. arthel: all right. big changes coming under the new health care law. the big question now is what are the changes, and will we find out about them? and also this, the thanksgiving day trip, a driving trip turns into tragedy.

what caused this boat to capsize. >> chaos. people just in the water, it's like unbelievable. >> it was windy, there were waves rolling in. >> the boat was sideways, and it basically capsized us. had 23 people onboard, and everyone was thrown off. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. i heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. that's right. i've learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. you know we've been open all night. is this a trick to get my spot? [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. save on ground shipping at fedex office.

arthel: we have a holiday tragedy in south florida to tell you about. a massive wave capsizing a boat with 23 people onboard, one woman is dead and three others are rushed to the hospital. nearby boaters coming to the rescue along with lifeguards using wave runners. now, the group was returning from a diving expedition. all passengers now accounted for, and the injured passengers are treated and released from the hospital. jon: well, time is running out for the federal government to lay the necessary groundwork to move forward with the new health care law. analysts say getting everything in place will take more time than the fed has left.

and they're already behind schedule. big surprise. chief national correspondent jim angle is live with that from washington. jim? [laughter] >> reporter: you got that right, jon. obamacare was passed two-and-a-half years ago, and it starts to unfold this january with new taxes to help cover the costs, then new insurance exchanges which are supposed to be ready in october 2013. analysts, however, say the federal government is way behind in part because the bill was thrown together. >> it was put together by a bunch of special interests, and that's why you get this ruin goldberg contraption we're having all these problems. >> reporter: the administration finally laid out what it calls essential benefits which insurance companies needed to write and price their health care plans. but the administration is pressing its luck because companies usually need more time. >> it typically takes anywhere from a year to a year and a half for an insurance company to develop new policies, get them

approved by regulators and develop all the materials needed to sell them to consumers. obviously, we have a much shorter time frame that plans are going to have to meet. >> reporter: now, many other requirements of the law have not yet been completed. businesses of a certain size, for instance, have to have what is called adequate coverage in order to avoid fines. listen. >> so here's the problem, the irs has not defined what constitutes adequate employer coverage. and the language in the legislation is ambiguous. >> they might get a budget deal in seven weeks, i think they could draw up these regulations in 11 months. these are complicated, but there is a lot of cooperation that's going on. it's a doable task. >> reporter: now, starting the insurance exchanges, though, requires a massive new software

system. listen to this. >> another glitch is that the exchanges have to have electronic software, and the federal government has to approve that software, and it still hasn't done so. so we don't even have the software ready to do what's supposed to be done in the exchange. >> reporter: so many more thicks to do -- things to do before next october, and analysts said the administration had plenty of time but postponed some of the more difficult things until after the election. jon? jon: wasn't it ronald reagan who said one of the biggest lies out there is i'm from the federal government, and i'm here to help? [laughter] >> reporter: yeah. jon: yeah. >> reporter: watch this unfold. jon: looking forward, jim. looking forward. [laughter] jim angle, thanks. arthel: all right. retailers across the country are luring holiday shoppers with the promise of deep discounts on electronics, toys, jewelry and so much more. but how do you know you're really getting the best deals? some black friday pitfalls to avoid, that's coming up. and clashes in egypt today after president muhammad morsi

grants himself absolute power. we're live in cairo.

arthel: oh, the frenzy is on. holiday shoppers across the country are battling massive crowds for black friday deals. we're seeing long lines and packed aisles as consumers hunt down deep discounts. unfortunately, those black friday prices may not be quite as low as you expect. trey bodge is here, president of retailmenot.com. who are the biggest winners here? retailers or shoppers? >> it definitely depends on what

you're shopping for. we did a survey and found 80% of people were interested in tech items for christmas, so you will see big doorbuster deals on flat screen tvs and cameras, so i think everybody wins for cyber monday and black friday. arthel: okay. there are certain items you don't buy on black friday, what are those? >> i would actually agree. you're not going to find big discounts on accessories, jewelry, clothes, toys for the most part. tech is where i would focus your shopping efforts for those two days. arthel: so you touched on cyber monday, right? so we know those guys are saying, look, stay at home, shop online, don't go to the stores. [laughter] but are you really getting good deals if you're doing this whole cyber monday shopping? >> i think so. the thing about black friday, it is important to get out on black friday if you have a specific item that you want, model number, make, and you absolutely have to have it, because if you don't, you might lose it today.

however, if you can wait until cyber monday, do so, and do it in the comfort of your own home. we did find a majority of the people we surveyed were going to do a lot of shopping at work. arthel: can't do that at work, guys. >> yeah, exactly. arthel: you see some of the walmart workers are protesting about working on thursday, on thanksgiving day, and we're calling it gray thursday. i don't know what they call it. maybe should these companies perhaps offer for incentives to the workers saying, hey, you get double overtime or maybe even a gift card to the store? >> absolutely. arthel: or maybe do away with thanksgiving shopping? >> well, that's another whole can of worms. i'm not so sure on opening stores on thanksgiving between you and i, but, yes, if someone's going to work on a holiday, there should be some incentives. i was used to working those hours, so it's par for the course in a lot of ways. however, if the employer can offer a gift card or time and a half like you said, a little more incentive, perhaps the workers will be a little happier

doing the work. arthel: and they won't worry about leaving their families on thanksgiving evening as much, i don't know. >> exactly. arthel: i don't know about that. that was between the two of us, nobody else. not millions listening. [laughter] thank very much. >> my pleasure. thanks for having me. arthel: good to see you. jon: let's go shopping. protests erupting across egypt today, police fire tear gas at anti-government protesters there after a power grabby that country's new president. we'll tell you what he did and how the crowds are reacting live from cairo. plus, a chain reaction crash causes a 140-vehicle pile-up. we'll tell you more about exactly how this happened. [ malannouncer ] it'that time of year again. time for cii price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and it finds one, you get refunded the difference.

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insured through unitedhealthcare. call today to enroll. these medicare advantage plans can combine parts a and b, your hospital and doctor coverage... with part d prescription drug coverage, and extra benefits... all in one complete plan... for a $0 monthly premium. no more than what you already pay for medicare part b. other benefits can include 100% coverage for an annual physical and immunizations, vision and hearing coverage -- and prescriptions as low as $2... at pharmacies and retail locations like these. ♪ don't wait. let's get you on the right path. call today to enroll in a plan from unitedhealthcare, like aarp medicarecomplete. jon: we begin with fox news alert. an outrage over a grab for power sparks a wave of violent protest in cities across egypt. welcome to the second hour of "happening now."

i'm jon scott. arthel: i'm arthel neville in nor jenna lee. thousands of protestors marching in cairo. after egypt's president grants himself extraordinary power. demonstrators are targeting the offices of the president's party the muslim brotherhood, calling the president a dictator, and demanding his resignation. it all started after president morsi declared his decision kansas city not be legally challenged and will remain in force until after egypt elects a new parliament. morsi supporters claim it's only a temporary measure to prevent supporters of the former regime from blocking reform. jon: let's talk a little bit more about what is going on there. the balance of power seems to be shifting rapidly throughout the middle east ever since the arab spring. rick granell has served as spokes men for the past four

u.n. ambassadors to the u.n. mohammed morsi was something of a hero to the united states when he helped broker that cease-fire between israel and hamas in gaza. now what is going on. >> my, what six weeks will do. six weeks ago we had president obama saying that egypt and morsi wasn't really an enemy and they weren't really our friend. wasn't an ally. six weeks later we see secretary of state hillary clinton gushing over the fact that egypt was able to broker this cease-fire. clearly, jon, the cease-fire is great news, and i think that the egyptian president does deserve credit for brokering this. he went in to gaza, he tried to do what he could. i think most observers were a little bit uncomfortable with wh he was saying inside gaza and i think he came down on hamas' side a little bit too much.

he is a leader of the muslim brotherhood. we were a little bit concerned with his actions. but then when the cease-fire happened secretary of state hillary clinton stood next to him and really just gushed over the fact that he was able to produce this cease-fire. then you saw -- jon: do you think that with this backing of the secretary of state he just assumed that he could now walk on water, and he can make this incredible power grab in egypt? >> yeah, i think there is no question that this had something to do with it. when the greatest power in the world is gushing over your win, i think you begin to believe your press releases and think that you're doing a great job. it's an inexperienced move by an inexperienced leader, and i'm not talking about president obama, i'm actually talking about president morsi. the fact that this administration, the obama administration, was way too quick and way tooe too iffusive

set up the power grab like this. jon: he said any decisions he has made since he assumed the presidency in june, any of those decisions he has made cannot be challenged by the court. basically he's saying everything i've done is perfect and good for egypt, and cannot be challenged. >> and he nullifies the courts in essence. he's trying to say that i have unequivocal power and that is the problem i think that we've seen growing in the middle east, is that when we have some of these revolts, and we're moving towards people in the street demanding more freedoms, that the leaders misread that power, or that push for their leadership into a power grab situation, and that's where i think the united states can do a better job. we can privately compliment,

like the cease-fire without immediately being too iffussive publicly which gives them a sense of power that they really don't have. jon: hosni mubarak was pushed out of of the presidency in egypt in part because of citizen outrage at the street level overpowers he assumed for himself. he sort of ran that country by fiat. this guy among other things has ordered a new trial for hosni mubarak. why? >> you know i think it's a popular move inside the country in some ways and he's just playing to some of the constituents. he's playing to his base. but the violence in egypt that we are seeing over this power grab move by the president is clearly an indication that the egyptians are not quite settled on his leadership yet, they are not comfortable. i think that's where our press here, the liberal media, really is misinterpreting what is going

on in egypt, because even our press, jon, was very iffussive towards president morsi's move towards the cease-fire. clearly we can can compliment him without gushing so much, that distort the story. jon: secretary of state hillary clinton was in egypt saying very nice things about mohammed morsi. given what he has just now done in this gigantic power grab, what should she do or say now, and president obama, either one of them. >> in my experience of diplomacy, you can say one thing privateee and another thing publicly. you can be complimentary to the president privately, but in public you should be more measured. ncr said it was a ring endorsement of an islamist leader. that's what they described

hillary clinton's comments at. that's the message we don't want. we don't want to send the message that no matter what mo morsi does now we are entirely behind him. when president obama said i don't know this he's an ally or a friend, i thought that with us a really good mess afpblgt it leavemessage. it leaves him on his toes. it reminds him he has to do more before he gets unequivocal acceptance from the ooh neated states including money, 475 million tkhr-rz a year. dollars a year. >> and when reseupt is unstable it's not good news for everybody . arthel: eager bargain hunters are flooding stores with retailers seeing record sales on what is already one of the year's bussist shopping days. folks lined up for hours for

black friday bargains. the numbers might truly surprise you. 147million people or 47% of our population planned on shopping this weekend. with 24% of the shoppers saying they waited for a midnight opening last year. we are learning sales on that day alone were estimated at 11% of the total holiday spending. steve brown is live inside a chicago target. looks pretty calm behind you, steve, what is happening there at target? >> yeah, actually the crowd has built up here as we're been here longer, it seems like folks may have gone home and grabbed a turkey sandwich and came back out. it use thed to be that retail shopping, black friday was the super bowl of shopping days, but that's not necessarily the case. we had one regional manager here for target describing it as the beginning of the playoffs, this entire season is very important to every retailer, certainly a big one like target.

there were folks lined up at midnight at stores around the country. we saw this out at macy's in new york city. with regards to projections as to how the holiday shopping season is going to go we are hearing right now there will be an increase in spending over last year but it will be a smaller increase. >> we expect sales to rise about 4% this year. it's a little bit lower than last year. you know, we really believe that consumers are feeling a lot more confident this year, they are watching very closely to see what happens with the federal government and the fiscal cliff, but we are seeing strength in sales so far this year. >> reporter: there are things that consumers can do to help themselves out. there might be a great temptation to go to to a place that specializes in toys and get all of your holiday shopping done. some experts say it's not the best strategy because toys don't generally get discounted earlier in the holiday shopping center,

likely to be discounted later in the holiday season. keep in mind the sales that happen after the holidays. winter clothing, white sales, that sort of thing. purchasing those items may not be to your best financial advantage at this point right now, and always have a really good idea what it is you're looking for, and set a budget, what you're going to spend and try and stick to it. that will be the best way to get through your holiday shopping and get through it without having the awful bills that come afterwards. arthel: those things will give you a big, fat headache. the bottom lines you budget and strategize. >> budget, strategize, homework. arthel: get me something from target, thank you very much. jon: while some shoppers waited in long lines for a midnight opening, some deals began on thanksgiving. a petition with 350,000 employee signatures was not enough to get management to push off their

9:00pm opening. target said they had no choice and could be forced to open earlier next year if the trend keeps up. >> in a certain sense it's like an arm's race. first it was 7:00, 6:00, 4:00 in the morning and midnight. we have to be responsive to the competitive environment. we really think it's important to take care of our team and we value our team and so we'd like not to move earlier. we'll just see how the market goes. jon: if your wondering why they do it retailers reportedly can make about 40% of yearly profits between black friday and christmas day. arthel: a thanksgiving disaster leaving at least two people dead and dozens hurt on a foggy highway. plus why cattle ranchers are seeing more green when their cows eat grass. oh no, not a migraine now.

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arthel: right now brand-new information on a horrible scene that unfolded live yesterday here on "happening now." two people are dead, dozens more are hurt after a massive pileup on interstate in texas. more than 140 cars and trucks were involved in that pileup. you can see the debris littering the highway from the mangled wrecks. drivers caught in the chaos describe the terrifying moments. take a listen. >> there were three cars in front of me and i saw it was about to happen and sure enough the first car that stopped, the second car tried to avoid hitting it but just tagged it on the bumper and the next car tagged the other bumper and i literally was able to stop without hitting anyone. with that panic of who might hit me. arthel: wad nat dominique

d-natali live. bad fog appears to be the cause. incredible, as you can see, vehicle after vehicle mangled in with others. the jack knife trucks and the trailers torn in two. endless carnage. drivers at the scene who avoided getting knarled up said they are glad they had their wits about them. >> pay attention to what they are doing. >> i hit the pileup and the man in back of me he stopped too. >> reporter: the two victims were grandparents crushed to death by a tractor trailer. they've been identified as deborah legio60, and vincent legio64. apparently they were on the way to a romantic give away in mississippi to to escape thanksgiving melee.

the pileup occurred about 8:45am southwest of beaumont, east of houston. as traffic cops pulled up at the scene they couldn't prevent the chain reaction of collisions. >> one car hits the back of another car, they slowed down or whatever the reason was, or left the roadway and then we saw back-to-back to back crashes. even as the deputies were pulling up we had a continuous chain of accidents occurring at that time. >> reporter: while the authorities tried to workout what they were dealing with uninjured drivers were rushing to the said of those trapped in the wreckage and put themselves in danger. it was an 8 hour delay and it turned out to be a grim thanksgiving for them. arthel: dominique d-natali thank you very much. jon: you have probably had your fill of turkey for a while, so how about a burger? well, some ranchers are raising cash cows you might say, simply

grass-fed believe. consumers are paying a premium for cattle raised on corn, the grass-fed stuff might actually be healthier for you. alicia acuna is live in denver with a look at that. >> reporter: did you know it takes almost twice as lightning to raise a cow on grass than it does one raised on corn and other feed, that is part ever the reason it's much more expensive. fans of it say it's much healthier and therefore it's worth it. getting a hold of it isn't always so easy. that is because the industry has seen a growth in demand of 20% for the cattle that is raised old school grazing on grass. they say it is leaner than corn-fed beef and there is a taste difference. >> people are catching on to the healthcare benefits of grass

fed. beef weren't really evolved to eat grain. >> i think most consumers eating tkpwraz-fed for the first time will be really challenged or really shocked or surprised, if you will of the flavor of grass finished beef because it is so much different than that of corn finished beef. >> advocates of what is known as the local food movement say the growing popularity speaks to changes in attitude about food and health. pete's family owns gourmet grocery stores in denver and he says it can get competitive when it comes to customers ordering from him but it all goes back to the more health conscious consumer. >> we like to say, know your farmer, know your food. so if we know where our food is coming from, right, if we know the people who are raising our food we can ask more detailed, more in-depth questions, we can learn more about what it is that we are consuming. >> getting back to that ranch jon, one interesting thing we learned is as the cows move

along the range they are actually not just mindless lee eating kind of the way we all did yesterday, they are picking out the different grasses for the different nutrients that their bodies are telling them that they need. jon. jon: interesting. i did a lot of mindless grazing yesterday. alicia acuna thank you. arthel: hopefully on turkey and sweet potato pie. jon: no grass, no. arthel: i'm glad to hear that. jon: all right. arthel: coming up, dealing with the looming fiscal cliff, the pressure big labor is putting on the president and democrats. will their call for no cuts to social spending kill any deal? a special look and a live report. the bombshell evidence against casey anthony never presented by the prosecution. her defense attorney revealing what he thinks could have landed her in prison for the murder of her daughter. that evidence and legal analysis up next. 4g lte is the fastest.

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arthel: right now the casey anthony case back in the spotlight. the big question being asked, did the prosecution drop the bomb. a bombshell report coming out of orlando says prosecutors and police overlooked anthony's google searches and quote fool-proof suffocation, a possible smoking gun that could have doomed the mother of caylee anthony who was found not guilty of her child's murder. the findings in this report seem to be backed up by claims made by anthony's own defense lawyer, jose baez. he first dropped that bombshell this past summer in his book on the case. fred tice, and dan shore, both attorneys, good to see both of you. this is unbelievable. this google search by the way took place on june 16th, 2008

the last day that caylee anthony was seen, so i'll start with you on this one, fred, can we use the b word, i mean was this just absolutely botched? >> no. let me tell you why. okay, should they have found it, yes. would it have been helpful, perhaps. would it have changed the outcome? no way in a thousand years, i don't care what jose ba ez says. the entire reason that the coroner ruled that this was a homicide was because she found duct tape near this young child's remains although she said the cause of death was indefinite. the theory that the government used was that they was suffocated with duct tape. this search was about a plastic bag. this is like being a pilot you have to pick a theory and go witness. you have to take a drink of sake. dream bonzi and drive your plane into the boat. the theory was this young girl

was suffocated with duct tape and there was a ton of other reasonable doubt. it wouldn't have made a difference. arthel: dan what do you think? >> the defense was saying it was accidental death, the prosecution was trying to show it was intentional suffocation. you have a search for suffocation at the time when caylee was probably killed. that is consistent and important evidence, even though it's not the exact same type of suffocation it gives the jury more evidence to support a conviction here. arthel: your turn, fred. >> here is the problem. look i've said it from the get go, this case wreaked of reasonable doubt. they continue even find a reason why -- how this child had been killed. the evidence about the chloroform, all the stuff we could go through it chapter and verse. it's a piece of evidence that could have helped the prosecution, jose baez would stand up and scream it's more reasonable doubt.

they can't tell you if she was murdered with duct tape, now they want to tell you it was a bag. arthel: he was prepared to say, look, it was the father who was so distraught over little caylee's drowning that perhaps he was looking for a way to commit suicide. >> jose baez shouldn't have said one word afte not a single word after the prosecution rest ned that case. the jury came back and found insufficient evidence, and reasonable doubt. arthel: that's what he said he would have said. >> i know what he would have said but it won't have made a difference. arthel: dan let me talk to you about this. they are saying that the orange county sheriff's office gave the prosecution a spread sheet with less than 2% of the information from casey's computer that particular day. i mean, really, is that -- why weren't they given the actual hard drive so they could go over it themselves and lock for evidence. >> effective computer forensic work is difficult. you need experts that know what

they are looking for and are thorough. somehow there was miscommunication. the appropriate evidence was not tpweufrpb to th distroyednot -pbt give prosecutors. there was miscommunication here and a crucial piece of evidence that might have led to a conviction we don't know was over scene. arthel: i'm going to jump in here with this quickly. that is i know your stance on this from an attorney's point of view, but this has been a very emotional case for a lot of people to watch and to hear this information that even though you said won't have made a difference i think it really smacks people right in the heart. >> i've got to tell you something, if you're asking me if in my opinion this young woman caused the death of my child my answer has never wavered on that one little tiny bit. if you're asking me whether or not this country has a right to be appalled at what happened i agree with that. my only position is that i'm sorry, there wasn't enough

evidence to convict this woman. i don't like it but that's the way it was. you can file a motion to change the facts but i've never won one has a prosecutor. >> thank you to both of you for your time and analysis this morning. >> thank you. jon: some of the neighborhoods hit hard by super storm stand deare hoping black friday will provide much needed economic boasts. a live report from staten island is just minutes away. and the cash-strapped u.s. postal service announces a new plan it hopes will help its bottom line while giving last-minute shoppers a little holiday help as well. we'll tell you about that coming up.

jon: new york city' devastated staten island hoping for a boost on this black friday after taking a massive hit during superstorm sandy. lines at local retailers seem healthy so far despite a major drop in sales ever since that storm slammed into the big apple. many residents still recovering, some without a home, that boost might be hard to come by. fox business network's lauren simonetti live at the staten island mall. how's it going? >> reporter: yep. well, the traffic has definitely been building. we saw a huge rush with that typical black friday midnight opening til about three this morning, then it quieted a little bit, and now it is really busy. i'm joined by the senior marketing manager, dave albertson, and he says there's

an hour line just to get a parking spot, is that right? >> yeah, we're talking to customers, and they're saying they're waiting up to at least an hour to find a great space. >> reporter: and that's the thing, obviously, staten island was so hard hit, you've got to wonder, people are showing up, but what are they buying? >> well, a lot of appliances are flying off the racks, we're hearing, heavy coats and scarfs, things of that nature. right now, that's what they're gobbling up. >> reporter: right. so it's a christmas of replacing what you might have lost during the storm. some people are just trying to feel better. i was talking to the manager of appliances at sears, and washers and dryers are the hottest-selling gift items in the store. but what they did notice was because sears opened at 8 p.m. on thanksgiving thursday for the first time, they noticed a lot of the typical black friday sales were pushed up into thursday, so that's definitely a trend we're seeing. and another thing is some folks

lined up last night for their appliances, and then they came back for water heaters this morning. so we are certainly seeing busy activity, definitely throughout the malls. some stores more than others, but it's good. all in all, we're expecting between today, saturday and sunday about $45 billion to be spent with black friday weekend shopping. so hopefully, that's a good sign for the economy, right? because we know the nation needs it. jon: the nation needs it, and staten island really needs it. [laughter] lauren simonetti from fox business, thank you. arthel: and just in time for the holidays, the postal service facing a shrinking demand for traditional mail, some call it snail mail, is launching a same-day delivery program for packages. the program is in a test phase right now, and if customers like it, it could grow to more cities across the country. steve centanni is live in washington. how's the test phase working out so far? >> reporter: well, it doesn't begin til next month, arthel. it's a pilot program that would

deliver same-day-only, same-day packages only within certain metropolitan areas, not long distances, not all across the country. this starts next month in san francisco, december 12th, and it could expand to other cities after that. postal service calling it metro post. the post office would pick up items once a day from retailers and be delivered to customers' homes in that same metro region between 4 and 8 p.m. the packages would be transferred directly between the postal workers who pick them up and deliver them all for a flat fee of $10 per package. a spokeswoman told fox news this morning that, quote, metro post is an exciting new venture for the postal service, it gives retailers a way to provide a valuable, additional service for their customers. we're the best positioned organization, she says, to offer this service since we deliver to every address in america every day. we look forward to a successful test. the trial follows recent moves by other big retailers to offer

same-day delivery including walmart, ebay and amazon.com. now, how would it impact competition? the post office in a filing with federal regulators addressed that very issue saying, quote: there is no reasonable expectation that the postal service's metro post service offering would create an unfair or otherwise inappropriate competitive advantage for the postal service or any mailer with regard to any other party including small businesses. now, the post office stands to make a half a billion dollars a year if the program expands to ten cities as they plan, but the postal service is also losing about 16 billion a year, so this would just be one small step forward toward covering that gap. arthel? arthel: all right. we wait til next month. look, bottom line, good, hard working folks at the post office, so good luck to them. steve centanni, thank you very much. >> reporter: you bet. jon: right now, dealing with the

looming fiscal cliff. just as we told you, republicans are facing increasing pressure from conservatives not to cave in on additional taxes. the president and democrats feeling the heat from big labor. the unions are making a push to protect spending on social programs and demand higher taxes on the wealthy. fox business network's rich edson live from washington with more on that battle. rich? >> reporter: good afternoon, jon. as democrats and republicans try to iron out a debt deal, democrats are saying, look, when it comes to entitlements, we'll perhaps discuss that. republicans are saying the only way we'll talk increases in tax revenue is if there are changes to into entitlement spending, medicare, medicaid and social security. labor unions are saying no way, they're launching an ad campaign to target democrats and republicans, states like new jersey, pennsylvania and virginia. in a statement one of the unions says elected officials from both parties need to listen to the will of the voters and focus on rebuilding the middle class and

strengthening our economy by investing in jobs, not cuts. as for the effectiveness of this effort, one conservative says this pressure on spending from unions is nothing new. >> the fact that they're publicly saying what they've been privately saying, i suppose it's helpful that the american people understand where obama's intransigence comes from, but nothing has changed. >> reporter: staff members for the congressional democrats and republicans and white house have been working on some details. congress comes back next week, and we're expected to have another white house meeting with congressional leaders sometime next week. back to you, jon. jon: rich edson in washington, fox business network, thanks. arthel: well, jon, a sudden shift by the news media in the final week of the election. how the overall tone of the media coverage of the presidential race shifted late in the game. our news watch panel weighs in. plus, holiday shoppers could be in for a big surprise as workers stage a walkout today against the world's biggest retailer.

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jon: well, there's a new study just out of media coverage during the 2012 presidential campaign. it finds that in the closing week before election day president obama got a big surge of positive news coverage. the pew research center finding both candidates got more negative coverage than positive throughout most of the race, but in the final week the media presented a lot more positive stories about the president while the coverage for governor romney stayed about the same. let's check in with our news watch panel. judith miller is an investigative reporter, cal thomas is a syndicated columnist for "usa today," both are fox news contributors. we should point out that superstorm sandy came roaring in in that final week of the election, and the president was, you know, seen out there walking

the beach with golf christie -- governor christie doing his job as president. judy, is that the whole reason for this disparity? >> no, that's not just the whole reason, jon. as we've talked about so often, shock, shock, the media are pro-obama. they are pro-liberal. but in this instance i have to say that it was really a reflection of the way the campaign was going. i mean, this was not a close election electorally. there were 100 electoral votes' difference. it was romney's to lose, and he was busy losing it particularly in the last week. and i think that the media coverage reflected his abysmal performance during that last week. jon: well, but, cal, some say that, you know, the campaign sort of got squeezed to the side because the papers and other media were doing so much coverage of the storm, and it was kind of like a mitt who? >> well, that's all true, and i agree with judy, jon. look, the republican problem is a bigger problem than just the

media. we've had presidents, republican prime ministers and republican candidates -- republican presidents and republican candidates in the past overcome the obvious media bias. ronald reagan did it probably better than any presidential candidate, to a certain extent george h.w. bush did it when he did that famous interview with dan rather and came back at him and said, well, you know, dan, at least i didn't walk off the set like you did when the tennis tournament ran over. george w. bush did it fairly effectively. but, look, the greater issue is the republican brand. instead of just bashing the media which never changes, every election cycle, go out and find a better way to get around them. i've done that, judy's done that. in my 40-year career in journalism, i'm in 400 newspapers around the country, i met the editors, i took them to lunch, i proved i didn't have a tail and fangs, and be that's what you have to do. just bashing them doesn't change anything. jon: well, and it's also apparent that the obama campaign did much better with new media,

judy, than with, you know -- well, obviously, they did pretty well with traditional media as well. but part of the president's strength was that he had something like 13 million e pail addresses. e-mail addresses. he got, i think, 60 or 62 million votes, but if 13 million people are already in your e-mail bank, that's a big leg up on the competition here. >> it certainly is. and we've seen how important that was in the demographic turnout, in the way in which young people drifted back to obama after a steady drum beat of twitter messages reminding them that they're citizens and have to vote. i mean, obama really knew how to use this because he had so many people from silicon valley on his advisory committee. romney had almost none. not to mention the disaster with romney's computer-assisted get out the vote campaign which you know you just don't -- or shouldn't be trying out on the day of the election.

jon: well, and, cal, i guess your message would be don't count on support from the mainstream media if you're a republican candidate, but still it doesn't explain why this disparity in the coverage in the positive stories in the last week. >> well, i do think sandy had something to do with it. and, of course, chris christie, the governor of new jersey, praising obama which angered a lot of conservatives, i don't know why -- i mean, after all, he is president of the united states. he does have the key to a lot of aid. chris: tee explains, look, i was just trying to help the people of new jersey who were devastated. i mean, can't we get beyond this whole idea that if a democrat does something good, shows up, that somehow that has got to be destroyed? i think this is part of the problem in america. if you have, if you do something as a democrat that is good for the country, no republican can support it, and the other way around as well. look, the media are always gown to be who -- going to be who they are. the republicans have to devise a different way especially in the

social media arena of bipassing them. it can be done. i would recommend the song from bye-bye birdie, put on a happy face. [laughter] jon: judy, you seem to be in it the wayith him on that. cal can always find a tune to support his point. jon: he does know his broadway productions. [laughter] >> right. really, even thomas said -- evan thomas said in 2004 that media bias was worth between 5 and 15 point toss a democrat, but this was not that kind of election, and i think on this one we're not going to have to absolve the media, at least say we did not make up the difference. jon: well, cal, republicans might be dreaming the impossible dream if they're looking -- >> ah, very good, jon. jon: if they're looking for fair coverage. >> well, you know, they could whistle a happy tune. that's another one for you. [laughter] jon: all right. good to see you both on this day after thanksgiving. we'll let you get out to your shopping. [laughter] cal thomas, judy miller. i'll be back tomorrow with our

fox news watch panel, that is saturday at 2:30 p.m. eastern right here on fox news channel. arthel: and this just in, hollywood police now confirming that reported fight that did occur at actress halle berry's house on thanksgiving, we reported that earlier in the show, the scuffle between her ex-boyfriend and her new fiance. berry and her ex are currently fighting, you might have herald, for custody of their 4-year-old daughter. her ex has been arrested and booked for investigation of battery. coming up, new violent demonstrations e resulting in egypt -- erupting in egypt. police firing tear gas into crowds of angry protesters. and the holiday season is in full swing. question is, will mother nature make your shopping trip cold, wet or perhaps snowy? twins. i didn't see them coming.

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jon: it is one of the scenes that shows the wrath of superstorm sandy. an iconic jersey shore roller coaster now submerged in the atlantic, or partially so, after the boardwalk there was completely demolished. now, the mayor of seaside heights is considering a plan to turn this toppled ride into a tourist attraction. he's working with the coast guard to make sure it is stable to stay right where it is, in the ocean, as workers continue to rebuild the beach community. arthel: rain, snow and some very chilly temperatures in some places, but will the weather put

a damper on your black friday shopping? chief meteorologist rick reichmuth is here. he has the answer in the fox extreme weather center. >> reporter: hi. as long as you bundle up, you're going to be fine. but it is going to be cold, and can it's behind this system right here. not yet any big snow problems. that's one across the east. there is another system flowing into the pacific northwest, so areas around portland up towards seattle. that'll continue, obviously, with another system back behind that. this is what the temperatures are like behind this cold front, 22 in minneapolis, so the cold air is settling in, temps into the teens across much of the dakotas and minnesota. it's a big change from where we were just 24 hours ago, around a 5-degree drop -- 35-degree drop for a lot of people. of course, you were breaking high temperature records before that. here's your forecast for the day. we have this front stretched still across the eastern seaboard, a very, very nice day. it's back behind this where the

colder air is. out across the west, things are looking fine. tons of sunshine except for that pacific northwest area, so things are looking good. this is what the future radar does. not much in the way of rain, but you'll notice the snow start to fly around the great lakes tonight into tomorrow, and this is lake effect snow. the first lake effect snow that we've had so far this year, but we are going to see the winds move here, kind of a typical pattern for this kind of year. and some areas may be seeing 6-9 inches of snow behind this, especially parts of upstate new york, maybe towards erie county as well towards pennsylvania. out across the west, we'll continue to see that moisture turning into snow across parts of idaho and montana. that storm track right now is across areas of the north for now. next week we're going to start to see maybe a better chance for significant storms aross r cross part -- across parts of the northeast. no big problems in the airports,

things looking really, really fine. arthel: that part is, indeed, good news. rick, thank you. reichmuth, pardon me. [laughter] >> reporter: it's all right, it's a doozy. jon: you have probably heard the term "tiger mom," but we've got the picture that gives it a whole new twist. it is friday, folks. we could not resist, lots of animal cuteness coming up. arthel: oh!

jon: all right. here's the story of the day. man's best friend takes on a new role, foster mom to three orphaned tiger cubs. the cubs were born earlier this week at a zoo in russia. unfortunately, their birth

mother abandoned them, so this shepherd dog stepped in to nurse the little cubs. it's not been the first time the tiger mom refused to feed her babies. it happened five months ago when she gave birth to two cubs. the zoo staff was prepared this time, brought in the dog to help, and the little cubs, well, they are happy campers. arthel: i mean, as if pictures weren't enough, the vocals just kill me. i love it so much. very nice. jon: yeah, that's mom. mom doesn't look too happy, but the cubs are happy. arthel: tsa why we love dogs -- that's why we love dogs. thanks for having me. jon: it's been fun having you here today. i guess now we have to go shopping, right? arthel: yes, we do, and what are we eating? grass-fed beef. jon: see you later on the fox report, 7 p.m. eastern tonight. thank you for joining us. arthel: "america live" starts right now. rick: and we begin with a fox